On-demand and configurable earned value measurements reporting

ABSTRACT

A method and system for uniformly displaying and reporting uniform project completion information, such as uniform earned value measurements (EV), of a large-scale project having a number of individual subprojects. A set of EV Calculation Rules are defined and used as a guide in creating the uniform EVs. The uniform EVs are calculated, then reported. The EV Calculation Rules used to calculate the uniform EVs include an identification of components of the databases required, the locations of these components and the mathematical formulae used to combine these components. On-demand, scheduled and/or event agents implement the rules to create the EV reports.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to U.S. patent application entitled “METHODAND SYSTEM FOR ENTERPRISE-WIDE MIGRATION,” Ser. No. 10/728,520 filedDec. 4, 2003, issued Mar. 23, 2010 as U.S. Pat. No. 7,685,027(hereinafter the “Enterprise-Wide Migration case”) and herebyincorporates Column 2, line 22 through Column 4, line 53, inclusive, ofsuch issued Patent by reference as if it were set forth in its entiretyherein.

This application is also related to U.S. patent application entitled“METHOD FOR PROVIDING BOTH AUTOMATED AND ON-DEMAND PROJECT PERFORMANCEMEASUREMENTS” Ser. No. 10/933,642 filed Sep. 4, 2004 issued Jan. 1, 2008as U.S. Pat. No. 7,315,977 (hereinafter the “Project PerformanceMeasurements case”), and hereby incorporates such application byreference as if it were set forth in its entirety herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to a system for project management, andmore specifically, for a project management system that calculates andreports project completion information in a uniform manner.

2. Related Art

In the past, there have been many large-scale projects covering severalgeographic areas and several databases and subproject databases. Forexample, it is common to upgrade communications, information technology,and other systems on a large-scale basis. These systems typically employa number of differing types of individual units in which the electronichardware, software, or associated equipment must be replaced, updated,or have components added to them to change (“migrate”) them to the newconfiguration. This migration involves differing processes and equipmentto convert each of the different types of units. These projects may beimplemented company-wide over many locations globally. It can become alarge task to uniformly track the overall progress of a project.

There have been some prior-art devices which display project progress,however, these tend to use measurements which differ from site to siteand subproject to subproject. Therefore, they lack consistency anduniformity and provide inaccurate results.

Currently, there is a need for a project reporting system capable ofcalculating and displaying project completion information for alarge-scale project in a more standardized manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a project reporting tool for reporting theprogress of a large-scale project.

It may be embodied as a method of reporting earned values (EVs) of alarge-scale project, comprising:

-   -   defining at least one EV calculation rule for calculating EVs in        terms of component's names to be combined into the EVs,        locations of these components and formulae required to combine        the components;    -   using the defined set of EV calculation rules to calculate the        EVs;    -   creating an EV report employing the EVs.

It may also be embodied as a tool for calculating and reporting earnedvalue measurements (EVs) of a large-scale project, comprising:

-   -   a) at least one subproject database (DB) for storing project        completion information;    -   b) an input device capable of interacting with the subproject        database to define EV calculation rules indicating components to        be used in calculating EVs, the locations of these components        within the subproject database, and formulae describing how to        combine the components into EVs;    -   c) at least one agent adapted to:        -   i) use the EV calculation rules to identify the components            which will be used,        -   ii) use the EV calculation rules to identify the locations            of the components which will be used,        -   iii) use the EV calculation rules formulae to calculate EVs,            and        -   iv) store the calculated EVs as a report indicating project            completion status.

It may be embodied as a computer program product, comprising a computerusable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein fordisplaying and reporting earned values (EVs) of progress of alarge-scale project, said computer readable program code including analgorithm adapted to:

-   -   a) define at least one set of EV calculation rules for        calculating the EVs in terms of components, locations of these        components and formulae required to combine the components;    -   b) use the defined EV calculation rules to calculate EVs;    -   c) create an EV report employing the EVs.

It may also be embodied as a method of providing services to userremotely located to provide reports of progress of a large scale projectcomprising:

-   -   defining at least one EV calculation rule for calculating the        EVs in terms of components to be combined into the EVs,        locations of these components and formulae required to combine        the components;    -   using the EV calculation rules to calculate EVs;    -   creating an EV report employing the EVs.

Therefore it can be seen that the present invention overcomes thedisadvantages of the prior art, by providing a system that can displayand report project-wide information in an organized, understandablemanner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of the major portions of a systemcompatible with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a computer system capable ofimplementing the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the functioning of one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a screen shot of the display of the present invention showingreports generated by the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a screen shot of the display of the present invention showinganother format of a report generated by the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

There are known criteria to measure progress of a large scale projectsuch as a migration of one computer configuration to another over alarge number of computers, or migration of people from one type ofdevice to another. One specific measure of the project's progress isthrough the use of earned value measurements (EVs). These EVs take intoaccount the value of the work completed with reference to the value ofthe work originally planned.

Earned Value measurements may be computed from the following three typesof components of the EV measurement: directly specified, calculatedquantity and calculated percentage.

Directly Specified Components

Directly specified components are those specified directly by theproject manager or calculated by some means external to the projectdatabase and provided to the database in final form. These types ofmeasurements typically often are reported ‘as is’ and are typically usedas denominators in calculated percentage measurements (see “total (sum)of the number of people migrated in “Calculated Ratio Components”infra).

Calculated Quantity Components

Calculated quantity components are numbers (unlike ratios andpercentages described below) calculated from other data within theproject databases. An example of this type of measurement includes thetotal (sum) of the number of people migrated to an Ethernet networkservice over several locations and/or subprojects during an enterprisetoken-ring to Ethernet migration.

Calculated Ratio Components

Calculated Ratio EV measurements are ratios derived from data within theproject/subproject database(s). An example of components for this typeof measurement is the percentage of the actual number of people migratedto an Ethernet network service and the total number of people projectedto be migrated to the service during an Ethernet migration.

EV Calculation Rules

In order to uniformly determine EVs over various sites, and subprojects,the components used to determine the EVs, their locations andinstructions on how they are combined must be specifically identified.These EVs must be uniform project-wide, and calculated in the samemanner across all subprojects. Measurements calculated in a standardmanner according to the EV Calculation Rules across all subprojects arereferred to as ‘uniform EVs’.

The components required to calculate the EVs must be identified. Eachcomponent may be used alone or be the result of calculations of a set ofother components. Similarly this set of components may be the result ofcalculations of a second set of components, etc. Therefore, it isimportant to identify the components which are used to calculate theEVs.

The locations of these components are then identified. Since EVs may becalculated over one or more subprojects which may be located at one ormore sites linked by communications networks, the site, storage device,file on the storage device and location within the file, or variablename should be specified.

After the components and their locations are determined, the one mustspecify the mathematical formulae employed to calculate EVs. Theidentification of components, locations of components, and formulae usedin combining the components are stored as EV Calculation Rules. The EVCalculation Rules may be stored in the subproject databases, an overalldatabase, or one or more automated agents which operate on thesedatabases.

An example of the EV Calculation Rules would be helpful in betterunderstanding the invention. A project has three subprojects located incities named “Elmhurst”, “Yorkshire” and “Portland”. Each location has adatabase named EMIGR, YMIGR, and PMIGR stored on computers ELM1, YOR1,POR1, at IP Addresses 3.1.120.1, 3.1.120.2 and 3.1.120.3 respectively.Assume that an EV measurement “Total Clients Migrated” is to becalculated and reported. Assume that this EV is calculated fromcomponents (variables) identifying the number of clients migrated ateach city named “ClientsMigr” stored on a subproject database EMIGRlocated at Elmhurst, “ClntMgr” stored on subproject database YMIGRlocated at Yorkshire, and “MigrEast” and “MigrWest” both stored on POR1and located at Portland.

Locations of the components are defined. These include an indication ofthe computer, the storage device, and the folder and subfolder path tothe subdatabase file. An example would be:

-   -   “C:/data/migration/clients/ClientsMigr.dbf”

Once the components are located and the values of each acquired, theyare combined. The EV Calculation Rules include the formulae indicatinghow the components are combined. In the present example, the formula isto add the values of each of the named components:Total ClientsMigrated=Value(ClientsMigr)+Value(ClntMgr)+Value(MigrEast)+Value(MigrWest).

These uniform EV calculation rules are performed by automated ‘agents’.These automated agents may be software programs running on a dedicatedor shared processor. These agents interface with one or more of thesubproject databases and implement the EV Calculation Rules to createuniform EVs and EV reports.

On-Demand Agents

On-demand agents are automated agents that interact with a user todefine which EVs are to be calculated and used in the report. The useralso indicates when the format of the report and when the report is tobe generated.

Scheduled Agents

Scheduled agents run on a schedule which is set and stored in a locationwhere the agent may access it. These agents have access to a clock to beaware of the date/time and run a report at the date/time indicated bythe stored schedule.

Event Agents

Event agents are designed to run when an event occurs. For example, theevent may be when more than a predetermined number of wall ports havebeen converted, or some other pre-designated event.

Since the invention may be more clearly understood through a descriptionof a specific embodiment, the remainder of the specification describesthe present invention as applied to a large-scale company-wide Ethernetmigration, as an example.

FIG. 1 shows a simplified block diagram of the present invention 100.Information regarding the migration project is stored on a plurality ofsubproject databases (DB) 101 a, 101 b, 101 c . . . or 101 n. Thesubproject DBs are collectively referred to as “subproject DBs 101”. Thesubproject DBs 101 physically may be located together, or they may bedistributed at any number of locations and connected through anappropriate wired or wireless network.

These subproject DBs 101 are updated with project completion informationrelating to a migration project preferably by a project manager of theteam responsible for the project. Each project manager updates theirappropriate subproject DB, populating it with information specific totheir section of the project stored on subproject DB 101 as per theEnterprise-Wide Migration case referenced in “Cross Reference to RelatedApplications” above, of which a portion has been incorporated byreference here.

For the embodiment described here, information stored on the subprojectDBs 101 may include a plurality of entries having one or more of thefollowing: project numbers, sites to migrate, building to migrate, totalnumber of seats to migrate, total number of ports to migrate, totalnumber of printers to migrate, total seats migrated, total portsmigrated, total printers migrated, seats requiring migration, portsrequiring migration, printers requiring migration, execution dates wheneach unit has been migrated, project planning information regardingtimetables, milestones, resource estimates, estimates of equipmentneeded, financial, budget, and other migration project information.

This information is stored in a hierarchical structure. Each of theentries is broken down into information separated into a number ofentries and a lower hierarchical level. Each of these entries is in turnbroken down into a number of entries until one reaches an individualrecord which contains information about a single unit being migrated.

In FIG. 1, one or more users 114, 115 interact through input devices123, 125 to indicate aspects of at least one subproject on subprojectDBs 101 a, 101 b, 101 c . . . 101 n on which to report. User 114, 115identifies the aspects of the project that should be displayed orreported. As stated above, user 114, 115 interact with input devices123, 125 to identify components required to calculate the EVs and thelocations of the components.

Since components may be dispersed over several subprojects at variouslocations, the name and location of each component must be specified andstored. The location includes routing information to the appropriatestorage device, its physical and/or logical address, and its local path.These may include data relating to specific sites, buildings, locations,types of units migrated.

Also, mathematical formulae describing how to combine the componentsinto the desired EVs are specified. The identified components, theirlocations and the formulae required to calculate the EVs defines the EVCalculation Rules. These rules may be stored in each of the subprojectdatabases, in an overall project database, or in one of the agents.

The EV Calculation Rules are used to calculate project completioninformation, such as uniform EVs. This is described in more detail inconnection with the description of the other figures.

In FIG. 1, a scheduled agent 111 is initialized with an activationschedule identifying dates/times that scheduled agent 111 willperiodically be activated. When scheduled, scheduled agent accesses theproper components of the subproject DBs according to the execution daterules and project definition rules. It then calculates uniform EVs andstores these in a report for later use.

The system may also comprise an overall project or rollup database 117which is capable of storing the project completion information from allsubprojects in subproject DB 101.

A rollup agent 119 may operate on components in the subproject DB 101and/or in rollup database 117 (FIG. 1) in a very similar manner to thatof the on-demand agents 113 (FIG. 1).

Rollup agent 119 may also create project-wide reports and store them inrollup database 117.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of a general-purpose computer forpracticing the present invention.

Generally, the functions of all of the agents, the subproject DBs, theproject or rollup database, or active elements of FIG. 1, includingnovel methods performed by the present invention described herein, maybe practiced on one or more general-purpose computers 200, 200 a, orelements of these general-purpose computers. Wherein the methods may becoded as a set of machine-readable instructions and stored on removableor hard disk media for use by the general-purpose computer. FIG. 2 is aschematic block diagram of a general-purpose computer for practicing thepresent invention. In FIG. 2, a computer system 200 has at least onemicroprocessor or central processing unit (CPU) 205. CPU 205 isinterconnected via a system bus 210 to a random access memory (RAM) 215,a read-only memory (ROM) 220, an input/output (I/O) adapter 225 forcommunicating with a removable data and/or program storage device 230and a mass data and/or program storage devices 235, 237. These massstorage devices will store the information from subproject DBs 101 androllup database 117, respectively (FIG. 1). It is also connected to auser interface adapter 240 for connecting a keyboard 245 and a mouse250, a port adapter 255 for connecting a data port 260 such as a networkinterface adapter (NIC) and a display adapter 265 for connecting adisplay device 270. The NIC may be used to connect to remote databasesand computers.

ROM 220 contains basic operating system instructions for computer system200. The operating system may alternatively reside in RAM 215 orelsewhere as is known in the art. Examples of removable data and/orprogram storage device 230 include magnetic media such as floppy drivesand tape drives and optical media such as CD ROM drives. Examples ofmass data and/or program storage devices 235, 237 include one or morehard disk drives and nonvolatile memory such as flash memory. These maybe local or remote, directly connected, or connected through a network.In addition to keyboard 245 and mouse 250, other user input devices suchas trackballs, writing tablets, pressure pads, microphones, light pensand position-sensing screen displays may be connected to user interface240. Examples of display devices include cathode-ray tubes (CRT), plasmadisplays and liquid crystal displays (LCD).

A computer program may be created by one of ordinary skill in the artand stored on the system or a data and/or program storage device 230, orfed into the computer through a data port 260 and executed to practicethe present invention.

It is also possible to have one or more other computers 200 a linked toshare, and/or all of the resources of computer 200.

While FIG. 2 shows the computer system 200 as a particular configurationof hardware and software, any configuration of hardware and software, aswould be known to a person of ordinary skill in the art, may be utilizedfor the purposes stated above in conjunction with the use of computersystem 200 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 shows a simplified flow chart of the functioning of oneembodiment of the present invention.

The process begins at step 300.

In step 301 one or more users 114, 115 of FIG. 1 determine if the EVCalculation Rules are to be defined or modified for a given report typehaving a specific unique name (type/name).

If the EV Calculation Rules are to be defined or modified, (“yes”) andprocessing continues in step 303.

If the answer is (“no”), then processing continues at step 311.

In step 303, users 114, 115 interact with input devices 123, 125 todefine or modify the components to be used in calculating the uniformEVs.

In step 305 users 114, 115 interact with input devices 123, 125 of FIG.1 to define or modify the locations of the components being used incalculating the uniform EVs.

In step 307 users 114, 115 interact with input devices 123, 125 todefine or modify formulae used to combine components into the uniformEVs.

The identified components, their locations and their formulae are storedas EV Calculation Rules at step 309.

In step 311 it is determined if a report is to be generated. If a reportis not to be generated (“no”), then processing continues in step 323,where the processor idles for a period of time.

If a report is to be generated (“yes”), then processing continues instep 313.

In step 313 it is determined if any of the components have changed forthis type/name report. If so (“yes”) processing continues at 317.

If the components for this type/name report have not changed since thegeneration of the last report (“no”), then processing continues at step315.

In step 315, it is determined if any of the EV Calculation Rules havechanged after this type/name report has been generated. If so (“yes”),processing continues at step 317. If no rules have changed since thelast report of type/name has been generated (“no”), processing continuesat step 321.

In step 317, agents create uniform EVs according to the stored EVCalculation Rules.

In step 319, the calculated uniform EVs are used to assemble a report oftype/name which is stored.

In step 321, the most recently generated type/name report is displayedto users 114, 115.

After displaying the report, processing continues at step 323. Afterstep 323, the process begins again.

The on-demand agents 113 and scheduled agents 111 (FIG. 1) report on thesubproject information and do not have the capability for project-widereporting. Rollup agent 119 has that capability. Once rollup agent 119has gathered the data (components) from all the subproject DBs 101,rollup agent 119 can now calculate uniform EVs in a very similar mannerto the on-demand agents 113, but for the entire project. Therefore,rollup agent 119 performs steps similar to those specified above in FIG.3, but performs them on the rollup database 117.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of the display of the calculated EVs of thepresent invention, or a “screen shot” showing a database view of theproject completion information accumulated from subproject DBs 101 a,101 b, 101 c . . . 101 n and stored in rollup DB 117 (FIG. 1).

On the left of this database view is a first pane 501, with a secondpane 503 shown on the right. The information in the right pane shows thenext lower level of the hierarchical data of the item highlighted in theleft pane, “15.01 PTD All Physical Inventory”.

A project administrator 121 at an input device 127 (FIG. 1) highlightsan item by navigating a cursor on the display device 270 to the item andthen clicking mouse 250 (FIG. 2). As soon as administrator 121 (FIG. 1)selects an item 505, the entries of the next lower hierarchical levelare displayed in another pane 507.

In pane 503 (and other subsequent panes), items are listed verticallybelow each other with column headings 511 running from left to rightindicating information common to the items shown. In this embodiment,three projects are shown indicating the number of computers in theproject, the number that have been migrated, and the number that havebeen migrated with other migration information.

A pop-up button is shown as “Preview Earned Value Measurements” button509. When activated it produces a pop-up dialog box as shown as overlaywindow 601 in FIG. 5.

A report button 511 of FIG. 4 is shown in this embodiment entitled“Generate Earned Value Report”. Activating this button causes a reportto be generated as described in the steps of FIG. 3.

Scheduling agent operates on the uniform EVs as set forth in the ProjectPerformance case listed in the “Cross Reference to RelatedApplications”, and hereby incorporated by reference.

The rollup agent operates on the uniform EVs as set forth in theabove-referenced Project Performance case to provide uniform anduniversal project measurement data.

While embodiments of the present invention have been described hereinfor purposes of illustration, many modifications and changes will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claimsare intended to encompass all such modifications and changes as fallwithin the true spirit and scope of this invention.

1. A method of reporting earned values (EVs) of progress of alarge-scale project, said method comprising: defining at least one EVcalculation rule for calculating EVs in terms of components to becombined into the EVs, locations in which the components are located,and formulae required to combine the components; a processor of acomputer using the defined at least one EV calculation rule to calculatethe EVs; and creating an EV report employing the EVs, wherein saiddefining at least one EV calculation rule comprises: said processoridentifying the components used to calculate the EVs; said processoridentifying the locations in which the components are; said processoridentifying the formulae specifying how the components are combined tocreate the EVs; and said processor storing the at least one EVcalculation rule comprising the components, the locations, and theformulae.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the components comprise afirst set of components, a second set of components, and a third set ofcomponents, and wherein said identifying components comprises:performing calculations of the first set of components to generate thesecond set of components; and performing calculations of the second setof components to generate the third set of components.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the project migrates people to an Ethernet networkservice, wherein the components comprise a first component and a secondcomponent, wherein the first component is a first percentage of numberof people actually migrated to the Ethernet network service, and whereinthe second component is a second percentage of a total number of peopleprojected to be migrated to the Ethernet network service.
 4. The methodof claim 3, wherein the EV report comprises a total number of peopleactually migrated.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing the atleast one EV calculation rule comprises: storing the components, thelocations, and the formulae as EV calculation rules as part of asubproject database.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the EV reportcomprises aspects of at least one subproject of the project, and whereinthe aspects include sites to migrate, building to migrate, total numberof seats to migrate, total number of ports to migrate, total number ofprinters to migrate, total seats migrated, total ports migrated, totalprinters migrated, seats requiring migration, ports requiring migration,printers requiring migration, and execution dates when each unit hasbeen migrated.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the method furthercomprises storing said aspects in a hierarchical structure, wherein thehierarchical structure is characterized by each aspect being broken downinto information separated into a number of entries and a lowerhierarchical level and further broken down into a number of entriesuntil an individual record is reached such that the individual recordcomprises information about a single unit of each aspect being migrated.8. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing the at least one EVcalculation rule comprises: storing the components, the locations, andthe formulae as part of an event agent, and wherein the event agentcreates the EV report based upon an occurrence of an event.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said storing the at least one EV calculationrule comprises: storing the components, the locations, and the formulaeas part of a scheduled agent, and wherein the scheduled agent reads aschedule defining dates/times to create the EV report based upondates/times within the schedule.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein saidstoring the at least one EV calculation rule comprises: storing thecomponents, the locations, and the formulae as part of an on-demandagent, and wherein the on-demand agent interacts with a user to specifyaspects to report and creates the EV report according to the user'sspecifications.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the method furthercomprises: modifying a location of the identified locations; andmodifying a formula of the identified formulae.
 12. The method of claim1, wherein the project comprises a plurality of subprojects, whereineach subproject comprises a subproject database located in a differentcity, wherein the components pertaining to the subprojects have valuesand locations stored on the respective subproject databases comprised bythe subprojects, and wherein said identifying locations of thecomponents comprises identifying the locations of the componentspertaining to the subprojects by indicating a computer, a physicaladdress and a logical address of a storage device, and a folder andsubfolder path to files within the respective subproject databases. 13.The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: displayinga screen shot depicting a first pane and a second pane, wherein thefirst pane comprises a list of project items such that a selectedproject item in the list of project items is highlighted, wherein thesecond pane depicts a next lower hierarchical level of the selectedproject item, wherein the depicted next lower hierarchical level of theselected project item depicts for the large-scale project and otherprojects a number of computers of each project, a number of computers ofeach project that have been migrated, and a number of computers of eachproject that have been migrated with respect to other migrationinformation, and wherein the second pane presents a list of menu items;and responsive to selection from the second pane of the large-scaleproject from the large-scale project and other projects and to selectionfrom the second pane of a menu item from the list of menu items,generating a pop-up dialog box corresponding to the selected menu itemfor the selected large-scale project, wherein the selected menu item isa preview of earned value measurements for the selected large-scaleproject, wherein the pop-up dialog box overlays a portion of the firstand second panes and displays the preview of earned value measurementsfor the selected large-scale project, and wherein the displayed previewof earned value measurements for the selected large-scale projectcomprises a total number of seats migrated, a total number of ports, atotal number of ports requiring migration, a total number of portsmigrated, a total number of clients migrated, and a percent of inventorycompleted.
 14. A project reporting tool for calculating and reportingearned value measurements (EVs) of a large-scale project in which EVcalculation rules and associated formulae have been defined, saidproject comprising a plurality of subprojects, said tool comprising: a)a plurality of subproject databases (DBs) for storing project completioninformation, wherein each subproject database corresponds to arespective subproject of the plurality of subprojects; b) an inputdevice for interacting with each subproject database to define the EVcalculation rules indicating components to be used in determining EVs,locations of these components within the subproject database, andformulae describing how to combine the components into EVs; c) at leastone agent configured to: i) use the EV calculation rules to identify thecomponents which will be used, ii) use the EV calculation rules toidentify the locations of the components which will be used, iii) usethe formulae to calculate the EVs, and iv) store the calculated EVs as areport indicating project completion status, wherein a computer readablestorage medium comprises the at least one subproject databases and theat lease one agent.
 15. The project reporting tool of claim 14, whereinthe at least one agent is an on-demand agent which interacts with a userto specify aspects to report and creates the report according tospecifications provided by the user.
 16. The project reporting tool ofclaim 14, wherein the agent is a scheduled agent that reads a scheduledefining dates/times to create the report and creates the report basedupon the dates/times within the schedule.
 17. The project reporting toolof claim 14, wherein the components comprise a first set of components,a second set of components, and a third set of components, and whereinthe EV calculation rules identify the components by including rules for:performing calculations of the first set of components to generate thesecond set of components; and performing calculations of the second setof components to generate the third set of components.
 18. The projectreporting tool of claim 14, wherein the project migrates people to anEthernet network service, wherein the components comprise a firstcomponent and a second component, wherein the first component is a firstpercentage of number of people actually migrated to the Ethernet networkservice, and wherein the second component is a second percentage of atotal number of people projected to be migrated to the Ethernet networkservice.
 19. The project reporting tool of claim 14, wherein the reportcomprises aspects of at least one subproject of the plurality ofsubprojects, and wherein the aspects include sites to migrate, buildingto migrate, total number of seats to migrate, total number of ports tomigrate, total number of printers to migrate, total seats migrated,total ports migrated, total printers migrated, seats requiringmigration, ports requiring migration, printers requiring migration, andexecution dates when each unit has been migrated.
 20. The projectreporting tool of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises storingsaid aspects in a hierarchical structure, wherein the hierarchicalstructure is characterized by each aspect being broken down intoinformation separated into a number of entries and a lower hierarchicallevel and further broken down into a number of entries until anindividual record is reached such that the individual record comprisesinformation about a single unit of each aspect being migrated.
 21. Acomputer program product, comprising a computer readable storage mediumhaving computer readable program code embodied therein, said computerreadable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement amethod for reporting earned values (EVs) of progress of a large-scaleproject, said method comprising: defining at least one EV calculationrule for calculating EVs in terms of components to be combined into theEVs, locations in which the components are located, and formulaerequired to combine the components; a processor of a computer using thedefined at least one EV calculation ruleto calculate the EVs; andcreating an EV report employing the EVs, wherein said defining at leastone EV calculation rule comprises: said processor identifying at thecomponents used to calculate the EVs; said processor identifying thelocations in which the components are located; said processoridentifying the formulae specifying how the components are combined tocreate the EVs; and said processor storing the at least one EVcalculation rule comprising the components, the locations, and theformulae.
 22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein thecomponents comprise a first set of components, a second set ofcomponents, and a third set of components, and wherein said identifyingcomponents comprises: performing calculations of the first set ofcomponents to generate the second set of components; and performingcalculations of the second set of components to generate the third setof components.
 23. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein theproject migrates people to an Ethernet network service, wherein thecomponents comprise a first component and a second component, whereinthe first component is a first percentage of number of people actuallymigrated to the Ethernet network service, and wherein the secondcomponent is a second percentage of a total number of people projectedto be migrated to the Ethernet network service.
 24. The computer programproduct of claim 21, wherein the EV report comprises aspects of at leastone subproject of the project, and wherein the aspects include sites tomigrate, building to migrate, total number of seats to migrate, totalnumber of ports to migrate, total number of printers to migrate, totalseats migrated, total ports migrated, total printers migrated, seatsrequiring migration, ports requiring migration, printers requiringmigration, and execution dates when each unit has been migrated.
 25. Thecomputer program product of claim 24, wherein the method furthercomprises storing said aspects in a hierarchical structure, wherein thehierarchical structure is characterized by each aspect being broken downinto information separated into a number of entries and a lowerhierarchical level and further broken down into a number of entriesuntil an individual record is reached such that the individual recordcomprises information about a single unit of each aspect being migrated.26. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the method furthercomprises: displaying a screen shot depicting a first pane and a secondpane, wherein the first pane comprises a list of project items such thata selected project item in the list of project items is highlighted,wherein the second pane depicts a next lower hierarchical level of theselected project item, wherein the depicted next lower hierarchicallevel of the selected project item depicts for the large-scale projectand other projects a number of computers of each project, a number ofcomputers of each project that have been migrated, and a number ofcomputers of each project that have been migrated with respect to othermigration information, and wherein the second pane presents a list ofmenu items; and responsive to selection from the second pane of thelarge-scale project from the large-scale project and other projects andto selection from the second pane of a menu item from the list of menuitems, generating a pop-up dialog box corresponding to the selected menuitem for the selected large-scale project, wherein the selected menuitem is a preview of earned value measurements for the selectedlarge-scale project, wherein the pop-up dialog box overlays a portion ofthe first and second panes and displays the preview of earned valuemeasurements for the selected large-scale project, and wherein thedisplayed preview of earned value measurements for the selectedlarge-scale project comprises a total number of seats migrated, a totalnumber of ports, a total number of ports requiring migration, a totalnumber of ports migrated, a total number of clients migrated, and apercent of inventory completed.
 27. A method of providing services tousers remotely located to provide reports of progress of a large-scaleproject, said method comprising: defining at least one EV calculationrule for calculating EVs; a processor of a computer using the defined atleast one EV calculation rule to calculate the EVs; and creating an EVreport employing the EVs, wherein said defining at least one EVcalculation rule comprises: said processor identifying the componentsused to calculate the EVs; said processor identifying the locations inwhich the components are located; said processor identifying theformulae specifying how the components are combined to create the EVs;and said processor storing the at least one EV calculation rulecomprising the components, the locations, and the formulae.
 28. Themethod of claim 27, wherein the components comprise a first set ofcomponents, a second set of components, and a third set of components,and wherein said identifying components comprises: performingcalculations of the first set of components to generate the second setof components; and performing calculations of the second set ofcomponents to generate the third set of components.
 29. The method ofclaim 27, wherein the project migrates people to an Ethernet networkservice, wherein the components comprise a first component and a secondcomponent, wherein the first component is a first percentage of numberof people actually migrated to the Ethernet network service, and whereinthe second component is a second percentage of a total number of peopleprojected to be migrated to the Ethernet network service.
 30. The methodof claim 27, wherein the EV report comprises aspects of at least onesubproject of the project, and wherein the aspects include sites tomigrate, building to migrate, total number of seats to migrate, totalnumber of ports to migrate, total number of printers to migrate, totalseats migrated, total ports migrated, total printers migrated, seatsrequiring migration, ports requiring migration, printers requiringmigration, and execution dates when each unit has been migrated.
 31. Themethod of claim 30, wherein said aspects are stored in a hierarchicalstructure, wherein the hierarchical structure is characterized by eachaspect being broken down into information separated into a number ofentries and a lower hierarchical level and further broken down into anumber of entries until an individual record is reached such that theindividual record comprises information about a single unit of eachaspect being migrated.
 32. The method of claim 27, wherein the methodfurther comprises: displaying a screen shot depicting a first pane and asecond pane, wherein the first pane comprises a list of project itemssuch that a selected project item in the list of project items ishighlighted, wherein the second pane depicts a next lower hierarchicallevel of the selected project item, wherein the depicted next lowerhierarchical level of the selected project item depicts for thelarge-scale project and other projects a number of computers of eachproject, a number of computers of each project that have been migrated,and a number of computers of each project that have been migrated withrespect to other migration information, and wherein the second panepresents a list of menu items; and responsive to selection from thesecond pane of the large-scale project from the large-scale project andother projects and to selection from the second pane of a menu item fromthe list of menu items, generating a pop-up dialog box corresponding tothe selected menu item for the selected large-scale project, wherein theselected menu item is a preview of earned value measurements for theselected large-scale project, wherein the pop-up dialog box overlays aportion of the first and second panes and displays the preview of earnedvalue measurements for the selected large-scale project, and wherein thedisplayed preview of earned value measurements for the selectedlarge-scale project comprises a total number of seats migrated, a totalnumber of ports, a total number of ports requiring migration, a totalnumber of ports migrated, a total number of clients migrated, and apercent of inventory completed.